Deregulation has made BWI Marshall one of the most popular, admired and affordable airports in the country.
But when passengers at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport step off the plane and head outside to fetch a cab, suddenly Gerald Ford is president again. Maryland awards the business of picking up BWI fares to one taxicab company, shielding it from competition much as the Civil Aeronautics Board did for airlines before 1978.
If getting from the airport to your house seems almost as expensive as getting from the airport to Disney World, maybe the BWI taxi monopoly is part of the reason.
Instead of fretting and dithering over who gets the next monopoly, the state should open BWI cabstands to all licensed comers, making sure drivers are qualified and taxis are safe.
The Board of Public Works will consider a new contract again Wednesday. The state has been kicking the deal around for years, temporarily renewing the existing arrangement with BWI Taxi Management because of bid protests and other impediments, as chronicled by MarylandReporter.com.
But authorities could save themselves trouble and perhaps save passengers money by letting the taxicabs work on terms similar to those of the airplanes.
That's what happens at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Northern Virginia. Regulators make sure cabs and drivers are clean and roadworthy. But any driver who meets those standards and buys a permit can pick up passengers after they get off the plane.
At both BWI Marshall and Reagan National, all licensed cab companies can drop off passengers. But for collecting disembarked passengers, BWI and many other airports contract with one company to try to ensure that cabs are waiting when they're needed.
"An exclusive contract provides a better mechanism of control and better taxi service for travelers," says BWI spokesman Jonathan Dean. "It's everything from the appearance of the vehicles and the knowledge of the geographical area to a basic level of service for customers."
But there haven't been many complaints about cab service at Reagan National since the airport set standards for all taxis and started requiring permits about a decade ago, says airport spokeswoman Tara Hamilton.
While Reagan National cabs aren't any cheaper than those at BWI Marshall, the multimillion-dollar "concession fee" paid by contractors for the BWI franchise has to be recovered somehow.
The fee is a legal version of the kickbacks allegedly paid by a towing outfit to more than a dozen Baltimore police officers. In both cases, the transportation company pays a third party to guarantee business.
Because all cab fares, including those from BWI Marshall, are regulated by local governments, my suggestion that increased airport competition could reduce fares might be a stretch.
But the wired, networked economy makes a good argument for taking taxi deregulation beyond airport franchises. Why not let cabs set their own prices?
Information failure was the traditional reason for regulating taxis. Passengers once had to rely on skycaps or hotel concierges to get one. Travelers couldn't know in advance if the cabbie knew where they wanted to go. They couldn't shop and compare fares.
So governments published strict rules, including rate schedules, to prevent price gouging and other surprises.
The modern passenger, however, owns a smartphone that can find a reliable brand, compare prices online, call a cab and navigate to a destination. Information is everywhere. Someday it might not be any more difficult to browse taxi options than it is to shop for an airplane ticket.
Thanks to discounter Southwest Airlines, BWI Marshall has taken business away from the high-priced carriers at Reagan National and Dulles International, becoming the headquarters of clean, competently managed, reasonably priced domestic flights.
If you can deregulate a Boeing 737, there's no reason you can't deregulate a Ford Crown Victoria. Maybe someday BWI Marshall travelers will be able to patronize the Southwest Airlines of taxicabs.